Revival of Hope
by QueenOfDragons2
Summary: When Masaru Kurohiko agreed to be a part of Operation: Revival of Hope, led by Dr. Heizo Sasaki, he didn't realize how literal the name would turn out to be. Nor did he realize how much it would end up applying to him and Dr. Sasaki as well... Contain spoilers for Dangan Ronpa 1, 2, & Another Episode.
1. Hope's Peak Academy

A man in his late thirties stands with a stoic expression on his face and his hands on his hips. He's wearing a white physician's coat over a teal shirt and brown pants. His short, black hair moves slightly in the soft wind, and his icy blue eyes can easily be seen through his non-reflective glasses.

Behind him are 19 men and women and a large, refrigerated truck. 30 feet in front of them are the open doors of Hope's Peak Academy.

A man near the back cautiously speaks up. "Um, sir?"

The man in the white coat looks back. "Yes?" he asks.

"Are you _sure_ that the defenses are down?"

"Pretty sure. There's no reason for them to be active now that the doors are open. Still…" He motions to two people in the crowd. "You two, find the automated defenses and dismantle them."

The two immediately rush off.

The man near the back rushes up to the man in the coat and asks, "Um…sir?"

Surprised, the man says, "Yes?"

"Um… I'm aware that we're on Operation: Revival of Hope but…exactly what is Operation: Revival of Hope?"

There's a long pause as the other man's eyes go wide. He turns back to the rest of the group and yells, "NOBODY told him? NOBODY?"

Silence.

The man facepalms and sighs. "Dear Lord…" he mumbles. "Okay. Nine of you wait here by the truck for my signal. The rest of you, search the school for anything important or useful. You," he says, pointing to the man next to him, "come with me."

Once the others have gone off, the man in the coat turns to the other man and says, "Your name is Masaru Kurohiko, right?"

"Yes sir. So, um…what is Operation: Revival of Hope?"

"…At this point, it'd be faster to show you than to explain." He motions towards the school. "Come on."

The two men then go inside. Once they're in, the man in the coat puts a very small device on the floor, just in front of where the doors would've been if they were closed.

"What's that?" Masaru asks.

"Hopefully," the other man replies, "you'll never have to find out."

Masaru's curious, but he realizes that pressing would be pointless, so he simply says, "So where exactly are we going?"

"You'll see."

When they're in the hallway, Masaru notes, "The power's still on."

"Of course it is. It's only been two days since the survivors left. Still, we can't stay too long."

"Oh, right. The air purifier's off."

The man silently leads Masaru to the stairs to the next floor, then the next. Their silence is occasionally broken by a run-in with another member of the group and by the man in the coat receiving information from them via two-way radio (strangely enough, one person found four chickens; they're told to bring the chickens with them). Eventually, they get to a long hallway on the fifth floor…and that's when Masaru starts to piece things together.

"S-sir, where are we going?"

"You'll see very soon," he says with an undeniably giddy tone of voice.

Masaru looks ahead. There's only one place they could possibly be going at this point.

"Th-the Biology Lab?"

"Yep."

"B-but… But that's where-!"

Before he can finish his sentence, they reach the doors at the end of the hallway. The man in the coat swings the doors open and a rush of frigid air comes from the Biology Lab. Masaru immediately starts shivering despite his long-sleeved shirt but the man in the coat, who seems completely unaffected by the cold, runs in.

"S-s-sir!" Masaru yells, rushing after him.

Two rows of small doors line the back wall of the freezing room. There are indicator lights next to each of the doors. Nine of the blue lights are lit, indicating that they're being used…that there's a body inside.

The man in the coat is standing in front of one of the doors.

"D-Doctor Heizo Sasaki…" Masaru stammers.

Ignoring him, Heizo opens the door and pulls out the tray inside. Lying on the tray is a white sheet that's covering a body. Heizo lifts the sheet up, looking at the corpse underneath.

Masaru goes over to the corpse, going to the side of the tray opposite of Heizo. Heizo pulls the sheet down, exposing the corpse's face.

Masaru grimaces. It's Leon Kuwata, the boy who had been bludgeoned to death by a barrage of 1,000 baseballs. His face is, unsurprisingly, bruised and bloody, and there are a few spots where his facial bones are undoubtedly broken. He's almost unrecognizable. Masaru quickly looks away from the gruesome sight, but Heizo isn't bothered in the slightest.

"Doctor…" Masaru says, "You're not planning on doing what I think you're planning on doing, are you?"

Heizo, with a small but slightly eerie smile on his face, says, "If what you think I'm planning on doing involves using the serum, then I probably am planning on doing what you think I'm planning on doing."

Masaru takes a step back. Shocked, he says, "B-but sir! I will not deny that the serum has powerful healing properties, but…using it to bring back the dead!?"

"It's worth a try," Heizo says with a suddenly blank expression and a hollow tone of voice. "I need to know…if they can still be saved… I need to…"

Masaru glances back down at Leon's body. It's then that he notices that Heizo had put his hand on the back of Leon's head and is now rubbing his temple with his thumb. Masaru feels his skin crawl and looks into the Doctor's eyes, hoping for some indication of why he was doing that.

What he sees…is something that he's never seen before. There's a look of intense determination, along with…despair? He isn't sure.

"…What's wrong?" Masaru asks softly.

Heizo, in a flat, nearly monotonous tone of voice, murmurs, "Do you know what it's like to lose a family member?"

"…Not really…"

"Do you have any idea how these kids' families might feel about losing them?"

"…I'm pretty sure these kids' families are all dead."

Heizo turns to look Masaru in the eye. "You don't know if every single one of their relatives is dead. It might be a parent, a grandparent, a sibling, a cousin, an aunt, an uncle, a niece, a nephew, whatever. I know you saw the broadcast. How do you think the relatives of the kids who died felt as they watched them die?"

"…I honestly have no idea, sir."

There's a hollow look in Heizo's eyes as he looks back down at Leon. He continues to gently stroke the boy's temples as though he was only sleeping. Masaru also looks back at Leon. It's the first time he's ever been up close to a real dead body. He had seen several movies where it was somewhat easy to tell that the "dead" body was still breathing, but this… The only movements from Leon are those caused by Heizo's stroking. Otherwise, he's completely still. It's…unnerving.

Masaru looks back at Heizo, who seems to be muttering something under his breath.

Masaru asks, "…Is that why you want to try reviving them? Because of their families?"

Heizo replies, "It's…part of the reason."

Masaru is startled to see a tear roll down Heizo's cheek as he bites his lower lip. It's the first time he's seen Heizo cry, and he wonders if Heizo's going to break down in tears.

But he doesn't. Instead, he sharply inhales through his nostrils and lets out a shaky sigh.

"The other part is…for more personal reasons…"

Masaru feels a sudden need to change the subject. "Um… Are you sure we have enough serum…?"

"…We might need to make more, but I'm fairly certain that we have enough components to make enough. We might need to get more afterwards, though…"

A voice suddenly comes on over the two-way radio. "Sir?"

Heizo takes the radio off his belt and speaks into it. "Yes?"

"We found the research notes of, um…Yasuke Matsuda, the Ultimate Neurologist. Should we take those too?"

"Yes. Those may turn out to be very useful. And even if they don't, I don't want those falling into the wrong hands again. Anything even remotely useful; whether it's research notes, food, clothes, or whatever; take it with you." Heizo clips the radio back onto his belt and looks back down at the corpse in front of him.

Almost automatically, Masaru adds, "And, um… What about…Junko Enoshima?"

Heizo stares up at Masaru. His intense glare makes Masaru glad that he hadn't chosen to stand next to the doctor.

Heizo leans forward and, with just a hint of hostility in his voice, says, "I have no plans whatsoever of reviving Junko Enoshima, for several reasons. First of all, reviving her would be counterproductive to the goals of Operation: Revival of Hope. Second, I don't have enough body containers. Third, Ultimate Despair may have already salvaged her carcass to the point where I wouldn't have enough to revive her from. Fourth, even if they haven't, she died by being crushed; it might be impossible to revive her. And fifth…" Heizo leans further forward and grits his teeth. "Why. Would. I. Bring. Back. Someone. Like. HER?"

Masaru shrinks back and whimpers, "I-I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I didn't mean to imply that! I just wanted to be sure that you WEREN'T planning on it!"

Heizo stares intensely at Masaru's eyes, as though trying to look into his very soul.

Before Masaru can say anything, Heizo's eyes suddenly narrow and he looks away, looking almost frightened.

"No," he says quickly, "you're right. I'm sorry."

There's an awkward silence between the two men as they wait for the other to say something.

It doesn't last long, though.

"D-Daddy?"

Masaru, startled, turns towards the sound of the timid voice and is surprised to see Natsuki Sasaki, Heizo's teenage daughter. She's standing in the open doorway of the Biology Lab, clutching her arms and shivering.

"Natsuki?" says Masaru. "What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be back at the hospital?"

Her straight, light-purple hair is somewhat unkempt, as are her bangs, as though she hasn't brushed her hair for a few days (and, knowing her, she probably hadn't).

Natsuki, barely audible, whimpers, "I…I…didn't want to be alone…"

"Um… But…isn't your mom there…?"

She glances at Heizo and says, "I…I'm more comfortable…with Daddy…"

Masaru looks at Heizo. His eyes are wide, and there's a subtle look of horror in his face. Masaru can't blame him. The world has become a dangerous place, and it's even more dangerous to be alone. At least she doesn't look injured…

"Sweetheart…" Heizo murmurs, "You could've just asked…"

"I-I-I'm sorry…" Natsuki whimpers, taking a few steps back.

Heizo immediately goes over to her, saying, "No no no, you don't have to apologize." He wraps his arms around her, holding her in a tight embrace. "It's okay, sweetie, it's okay…"

Masaru idly wonders what their family life had been like prior to the Despairing Incident.

He turns back to Leon's body, questions swirling in his mind. Why was Dr. Sasaki so sure that he could revive the dead with the serum? Would it even work? Even if it did, would the kids' personalities be the same as before their deaths? Or would they be completely different?

He lightly shakes his head…and jumps when he realizes that Heizo is now standing right next to him.

He says, "Would you like to help with loading the bodies?"

"Loading the bodies…?"

"Loading them into the containers to take back to the hospital."

Masaru blinks, surprised by the offer.

"…Before I answer that question, there's something I'd like to know."

"What?"

"How can you seem so certain that you'll be able to bring these kids back to life? And even if we can, there's no guarantee they'll be the same as before they died, or if it'll even really be THEM. You know what I mean?"

"I think so. But even if they don't have their original 'souls,' as long as they have their original personalities and all their memories in the end, that'll be good enough for me."

"'In the end?'"

"They…probably won't be able to remember their past life after their revival, so their personalities may not be exactly the same as before, but hopefully they'll go back to normal when they regain their memories."

"…And how do you know that's 'probably' what's going to happen?" Masaru asks rather slowly.

"For the same reason I know that I can certainly bring these kids back to life."

_What on Earth happened in this guy's past?,_ Masaru thinks. _…Maybe I'm better off not knowing._

There's another awkward silence between the two men as they wait for the other to say something.

This time, though, it's Masaru who breaks the silence.

"So, um… As for your question earlier…"

"Yes?"

"I think I'll take up your offer."

"Very good. In that case," Heizo says, taking the radio off his belt, "there's no reason to delay loading."

Masaru clutches his arms and shivers. "But first I have to go defrost outside!"

Heizo cocks his head to the side and raises an eyebrow. "The temperature bothers you?"

"It DOESN'T bother YOU?" Masaru retorts.

"No," Heizo says as though it's the most obvious thing in the world, "not at all."

Masaru simply rolls his eyes and leaves the Bio Lab.

Outside in the hall, Natsuki is leaning against the wall, combing her fingers through her somewhat lengthy hair.

"Is something wrong?" Masaru inquires.

"Ever since I stepped in here," Natsuki says, "I keep getting this nagging feeling that I've been here before…"

"Well, you did watch the broadcast…"

"No, not like that. I mean like…like I've actually physically been inside this building before… Oh, nevermind."

Masaru wanted to press the subject, but, again, decided that he's better off not knowing.

After a few seconds, Natsuki says, "How do you think the survivors would feel if they found out what we were planning to do?"

Masaru responds, "Probably surprised, shocked, skeptical, maybe a little hopeful."

Natsuki sighs and asks, "Do you…really think we'll be able to pull this off? Operation: Revival of Hope, I mean."

Masaru looks up at the ceiling. "…I really, really hope so. For their sake…and for mine."

Natsuki's too nervous to ask what he means.

**Author's Note: **It's been a long time since I've made a proper fanfic so please let me know how I'm doing with this. Here's to hoping I can retain interest in this fandom long enough to finish this fic.****


	2. The Hospital

**By the way, if at any point I contradict something in canon (besides the whole "bringing the dead back to life thing" of course), please let me know. Also, in the English translation, is it referred to as the School Life of Mutual Killing or as the Killing School Life? Or is it something else entirely?**

The ride in the truck back to the hospital is mostly uneventful, aside from an encounter with a group of Monokuma mask-wearing terrorists (they were quickly dealt with).

The hospital, the name of which Masaru still doesn't know, had once been one of the largest hospitals in Japan. It had been at the forefront of medical research and technology. Now, though, it's a shelter for anybody they could find that wasn't a part of Ultimate Despair. An enormous makeshift (but extremely sturdy) wall had been erected around the hospital, with several deterrents against anyone trying to climb the wall, ranging from electrified barbed wire along the top of the wall to poles covered with spikes in such a way that climbing them was impossible. As a result, there were only two ways of getting in. The first was the main entrance, which was a circular gate large enough for a vehicle (such as the refrigerated truck) to go through. The second was a small gap in the wall near the back of the hospital that was large enough for a normal person to fit through sideways. There was nothing protecting it, but it was built into the wall in such a way that finding it was impossible unless you already knew where it was (or so Masaru had heard; personally, he had yet to see this entrance, nor had he heard who exactly would know where it was).

They drive through the front entrance, the great gate closing behind them. The truck stops near a large group of people standing by the main entrance, presumably there to help with unloading the bodies. Masaru stumbles out of the passenger's side, with Natsuki close behind.

Almost immediately, a woman steps out of the crowd. She's wearing a brown jacket and pants, and her shoulder-length hair is a darker shade of purple than Natsuki's. "Natsuki!?"

Natsuki nervously turns away and says, "H-hi Mom…"

Mrs. Sasaki rushes over to her, saying, "Natsuki, where have you been!?"

"I…"

"Come on, let's go inside." With that, Mrs. Sasaki led her daughter by the shoulders into the hospital.

Heizo comes out of the driver's side of the truck, saying, "All right everyone, you all know what to do." They had assigned roles to each of the volunteers the day that the survivors left Hope's Peak. "Masaru, you don't have to help with this if you don't want to."

As the group members rush to unload the bodies from the truck and take them to the morgue for storage, Masaru staggers over to two women standing by themselves. One woman, Juria, is wearing a dark purple kimono with cherry blossoms on it, and her black hair is tied up in a bun. The other woman, Miko, is wearing decorative glasses, a white shirt with cherry blossoms on it, and loose-fitting jeans. A pink headband kept her shoulder-length black hair away from her face.

"So," Miko inquires, "how'd it go?"

Masaru pants, "I fainted…two-thirds of the way through loading the bodies."

"What happened?" asks Juria.

"…Celestia's body was in worse condition than I thought it would be."

Juria says, "Which one was Celestia again?"

Miko replies, "The one that got hit by the fire truck."

"…Oh."

"Anyway, are you okay? You didn't hit your head or anything?"

Masaru insists, "I'm fine, don't worry about me."

"We're your sisters. It's our JOB to worry about you."

Juria states, "That sounds more like something a parent would say."

Miko says, "…Anyway, what happens now?"

Masaru says, "There's going to be a meeting after all the bodies have been put into storage. Not sure what it'll be about, though. Come on."

He motions towards the main entrance and the three of them head inside.

0~*~0

If Masaru had to name just one thing about the hospital that he liked, it would have to be how clean it was. Any trash was picked up, the floors and windows (now made out of plexiglass) were washed every other week or so, and the carpets…well, he wasn't sure how they were cleaned, but they were definitely cleaned. It gave the hospital a comforting appearance of semi-normality.

The air was kept breathable via an air purifier from Towa City, the water from the underground river under the hospital was filtered of pollutants, and the food was either scavenged from the city or grown at the hospital. All in all, it was a rather pleasant place to live, especially compared to the post-apocalyptic world outside (and Masaru had spent a considerable amount of time living in the latter).

The hospital was 20 stories tall, with the huge conference room on the 5th floor. The seats were arranged in circular rows, raised like gym bleachers. Masaru, Miko, and Juria are sitting in the middle of the front row. Masaru sits with his back straight and his hands on his thighs, Miko leans over the table in front of her with her head resting in her hands, and Juria leans back in her seat while playing with a bright blue slinky. Masaru keeps a close eye on the stream of adults filling up the remaining seats. Eventually, a couple enters the room, both in their late forties. The woman's black hair is tied up in a bun and she's wearing a snow white kimono. The man has blond, buzzcut hair and a big bushy mustache. He has big muscles and is a foot taller than the woman in the kimono. Upon seeing them, Masaru waves to them, motioning them over. Noticing him, the couple walks over to the siblings. The woman sits between Juria and Miko, and the man sits next to Masaru.

The man looks at Masaru's blond hair, twice as long as his own, and says, "Have you been growing out your hair?"

Masaru smirks. "Hey Dad."

By then, everyone's finished filing into the room and have taken a seat somewhere. Heizo comes through the doors and walks over to the whiteboard at the front of the room. Natsuki, following him closely, sits down on a swivel stool next to the whiteboard, holding a megaphone.

Heizo takes a microphone out of his coat pocket and taps on the end, the sound echoing from unseen speakers.

"Is this thing on? Can everyone hear me? Okay…"

Heizo turns toward the crowd, brushing some hair out of his face. "First off, I would like to thank you all for coming here. Now, as some of you know, less than ten minutes ago, we transported the bodies of all the students who died in the School Life of Mutual Killing to this hospital. Many people have asked me why. Why bring the dead bodies of the nine victims of the School Life of Mutual Killing to this hospital? Well, the reason is very straightforward; I'm going to bring them back to life."

There's a pause, followed by almost everyone in the room speaking at once.

"WHAT!?"

"But-! But that's impossible!"

Juria drops her slinky.

Miko says, "That's what I thought."

Masaru's parents just…stare.

Masaru, who already knew, doesn't react at all.

Natsuki holds up the megaphone. "HEY! QUIET! LET HIM EXPLAIN!"

Once everyone's stopped talking, Heizo says, "Ah, thank you, Natsuki. Anyway, I'm sure that all of you are familiar with the serum I developed some time ago as well as its powerful healing properties. I shall use the serum to revive them."

Someone raises their hand.

"Yes?"

"Um… I-I don't see how the serum could do that…"

"True; by itself, the serum won't be very effective. Some of those kids, trying to revive them as they are now would be impossible. As such, I'll be operating on them beforehand to reconstruct their bodies. And that is why I've called this meeting: I need a volunteer to assist me."

There are a few murmurs from the crowd.

"This volunteer shall assist me in the reconstructive surgeries. Once the kids have been revived, the volunteer shall be in charge of…basically taking care of them. I would do it myself, but as the leader of this establishment and the father of a teenage girl, it would be impossible for me to constantly keep an eye on them."

Somebody near the back raises their hand.

"Yes?"

"So what exactly ARE you going to do?"

"After they have been revived, I will provide care for them in the event of serious illness or injury, especially if surgery is required. Natsuki" –Masaru notices that Natsuki is spinning on her swivel chair. - "will help with smaller health issues… And, uh, my wife will…help with any psychological issues that may arise…" Heizo keeps glancing back at the spinning Natsuki, clearly distracted. "The volunteer shall be given a device that will, uh, immediately notify them if any health issues arise. I know that's not very much information, um, but I've learned to be careful with how much information I give out at once. It was a hard-learned lesson too… So…do I have any volunteers?"

There is silence for several seconds. A few start to raise their hands or speak up, but they quickly change their minds.

Then, a voice in the front says, "I volunteer, sir."

All eyes turn towards the person who had spoken.

It was-!

"Masaru Kurohiko!?"

"Yes. Me," says Masaru with his hand raised.

Miko stares at him for a few moments before saying, "Okay, you really need to get your head checked."

Heizo replied, "He was caught before he could hit anything after he fainted, and I checked him after he woke up. He should be absolutely fine…"

Juria says, "…Are you sure you want to do this?"

"I'm absolutely certain," he affirms, glancing off to the side.

Heizo quickly follows his line of sight. His gaze rests on a woman with pinkish-gray hair standing next to the door.

Heizo stares at her through the corners of his eyes for a few moments before saying, "Is there anyone else who would like to volunteer?"

This time, there is only silence.

"…All right then. In that case, this meeting is adjourned."

He motions Masaru over to him (who promptly jumps over the desk in front of him without even touching it) as he walks over to Natsuki and whispers, "Make sure nobody eavesdrops on us."

Natsuki, somewhat distracted by Masaru's leap, says, "Huh? Oh, sure."

She then gets up and starts ushering the adults out the door. After everyone's left, the two men wait while Natsuki thoroughly checks all the rows to make sure nobody's hiding under the desks. After she's done with that, she takes one final look out the door before turning to the two men and giving them a thumbs-up sign.

Heizo turns to Masaru and quietly says, "Mr. Kurohiko, may I ask why you volunteered for this? You…don't exactly seem like the parenting type…and you fainted while we were loading Celestia's body…"

Masaru, just as quietly, says, "I'm not sure about being the parenting type, but I'm definitely the brotherly type; just ask my sisters. And Celeste was worse off than I thought she would be, though it was probably the smell that did me in more than anything else. As for why I volunteered…I felt it would be beneficial for me."

"…Beneficial in what way?"

"…I feel like…I need to learn how to really care about people that aren't my family. And I felt like this was a good way to start… Besides, I'm very curious about how this entire process is going to work."

Heizo stares at him for several moments before saying, "…I'm not going to ask what your childhood was like."

The two men stand in silence for several awkward moments before Heizo says, "So…shall we get going?"

Masaru's eyes widen slightly. "What? We're-we're doing the operations today?"

"Yes. The sooner we operate on them, the sooner we can start the process of reviving them, and the sooner we can start the process of reviving them, the sooner we can reunite them with the survivors…hopefully."

"Hopefully?"

"We'll have to see how they are when we get to that point. In the meantime…I shall personally ensure that you are kept well-informed. There will be some questions I won't be able to answer…but you will be kept informed of everything you need to know."

"…Thank you."

**Author's note: I'll be aiming for at least 2,000 words per chapter, so…you won't have to worry about short chapters, I guess. Next chapter: the operations commence!**


	3. The Operations

**For those of you haven't noticed, I have gone back and revised my previous chapters so that they are now in present tense (as well as a few other things). Why? I kept switching to present tense while writing this chapter and decided to just go with it. Let me know if I make a mistake.**

**P.S. Please let me know if I make a medical mistake. I know almost nothing about how to treat broken bones.**

"And your name is-?"

"Hiyoko Sasaki," answers Mrs. Sasaki.

"Hiyoko Sasaki!?" blurts Masaru. "…Are you that famous psychologist that-?"

"I'm not sure if 'famous' is the right word…but I won't deny that I was quite well-known."

"No," argues Heizo, "you were famous. Of course, part of that was probably because of me…"

"Huh?" says Masaru.

"I am currently suffering from amnesia. I've been able to recall many things, but there's much I don't remember," Hiyoko explains.

Masaru looks back at Heizo, who looks strangely nervous.

"Uh-I…I didn't know about that… A-Anyway that's not what I was confused about."

"Oh?" inquires Hiyoko. "Then what was it?"

"Um… How would your husband be part of the reason that you were famous…?"

"When you're the spouse of an Ultimate, you're bound to get some fame from that alone."

Masaru's eyes go wide. "'Spouse of an Ultimate…?' What…?"

"I graduated from Hope's Peak Academy as the Ultimate Surgeon," explains Heizo. "Since then, I have gained experience in practically every branch of medicine there is."

"You went to Hope's Peak Academy!?" yells Masaru.

"Yes," Heizo says flatly. "It's how I knew the layout of the school so well."

"I went there too!" exclaims Natsuki.

Masaru turns toward her, surprised. "Huh?"

"I remembered on the way back to the hospital. Don't remember much, though…"

"'Remembered…?' You have amnesia too? Wait, you went to Hope's Peak!?"

"Yes. And yes. I was the Ultimate Artist!"

"The Ultimate Artist…" Masaru repeats slowly.

"Yeah. The Tragedy happened before I could graduate, though…"

Curious, Masaru asks, "Were you part of Class 78?"

"No. I entered a year before them. …I did meet some of them, though."

Masaru raises an eyebrow. "I see. So how'd you avoid being killed when the Despairing Incident hit?"

"Um…" Natsuki quickly glances at Heizo. "Well, I don't remember what happened leading up to The Tragedy… But I do know that Daddy saved me, and I also know that-."

"Dr. Sasaki," a voice says suddenly.

Masaru turns in its direction. It's a man that he's seen a few times before but doesn't know the name of. The man has a sterile gown and gloves on.

"Sayaka's body is ready for surgery."

"Excellent timing!" Heizo exclaims before grabbing Masaru's arm and dragging him out of the hallway and into the room the other man had just come out of. Inside the room are sterile gowns, gloves, hair nets (or whatever they're called), and surgical masks.

As Heizo assisted Masaru in putting them on, Masaru asks, "Dr. Sasaki, why are we putting on all this stuff when we'll be operating on a dead body?"

"Part of it is pure habit, part of it is to keep us from getting any diseases from the bodies, and part of it is to reduce the chances of the wounds getting infected once they come back to life," Heizo replies.

_But,_ thinks Masaru, _we're operating on dead bodies…_

0~*~0

The Operating Room is chillier than Masaru thought it would be, but it's not too bad. Masaru had endured far worse for days at a time. On the wall is a chart with medical info on it, presumably Sayaka's. Next to it is an x-ray of a wrist.

_Oh yeah,_ Masaru thinks. _I forgot that Sayaka's right wrist was broken._

And there, right there on a table in the center of the room, giant lights shining down on her, is Sayaka Maizono. Her body from the waist down is covered by a blue sheet, but the rest of her is exposed to the world—or at least to the room.

"Um…sir?" Masaru asks uneasily.

"Yes?"

"Why is…why is her chest exposed like that?"

"Because I'll need to open it up."

"But…she wasn't stabbed in the chest…"

"You'll see."

Next to the table Sayaka's lying on is a smaller, wheeled table, and on that table is a tray with various medical instruments on it. There are syringes, sutures, forceps, plastic bottles, scalpels, paintbrushes, and a bunch of other stuff that Masaru doesn't know the name of. But what stands out the most to Masaru is the fist-sized metal apparatus that's separate from the other items.

Masaru picks it up and asks, "Um… I was wondering, what is this thing? Because I KNOW it's not a medical instrument."

Heizo chuckles and says, "You're right. It's not."

"…Then what is it?"

"I'll tell you after your own surgery."

"…My own?"

"I'll tell you more after we're done with Sayaka. We'll have more time to talk then."

"…"

"All right, so here's how this is going to work: when I ask for a particular tool, you take the tool from the tray and give it to me. When I hand you a tool, you take it and place back on the tray. Occasionally, I may ask you to hold something in place. Do you understand?"

"…Yes." _I feel like he was trying to insult my intelligence._

"Good. Scalpel."

The first thing Heizo does is widen the stab wound in Sayaka's skin to make the internal damage easier to access (he's insistent on pointing out the layers of skin, muscle, and the subcutaneous layer of fat, which Masaru finds genuinely interesting). Heizo sutures the internal lacerations with such precision, carefulness, and speed, that Masaru can't help but feel awed. It feels like such a childish thing to be awed by, but it's truly incredible.

_I shouldn't expect anything less from the Ultimate Surgeon, I guess._

Soon, Heizo finishes with the internal lacerations and moves on to the external wound. He finishes even faster than before. As soon as he finishes suturing the wound, Heizo dashes over to the wall, carefully examining Sayaka's x-ray. After about a minute or two, he dashes back over to the operating table and stands by Sayaka's right wrist. Working very, very, _very_ carefully, Heizo manages to open up her wrist without severing any veins, nerves, or tendons and exposes the broken bones of her wrist.

Masaru doesn't bother asking what exactly he's doing. He can already guess the answer. Or at least he thought he could.

"Masaru, do you see that small measuring beaker with the white goop inside?"

"Um…I think so." _Never thought I'd hear him say "goop."_

"Hand me that and the smallest paintbrush."

Masaru hands him both. "What is that stuff?"

"An accidental discovery I made while perfecting the formula for the serum. It's basically an organic glue that, when it dries, creates a semi-flexible substance that is extremely durable. It's very useful for holding together bones while they're healing."

"But it can still break, right?"

"Of course. But it'd take a considerable amount of force to do that."

Heizo has Masaru hold the broken bones together with surgical tools as he carefully paints the glue over the fractures. They repeat this until all of the broken bones are glued back together.

"By the way," Masaru asks, "how long does it take to dry?"

"At the thickness I'm applying it at, less than a minute."

When all the glue has dried, Heizo sutures Sayaka's wrist closed with thread so thin and tiny, Masaru is amazed that it hasn't broken already. When he's finished, Heizo puts a splint on Sayaka's wrist to keep it from moving.

"Are we done?" asks Masaru.

Heizo doesn't respond.

"Dr. Sasaki?"

"I'm thinking."

Masaru stays silent as Heizo leans over Sayaka's body, his gaze switching between the girl and the strange metal apparatus still on the tray.

After about two minutes, Heizo says, "…Hand me the syringe with the opaque white stuff in it."

Masaru hands him the syringe and Heizo injects the contents into Sayaka's left arm.

"Okay. Now we're done."

"Uh, what about the metal thing?"

"I changed my mind."

0~*~0

After looking over Sayaka's body one more time to make sure there aren't any other injuries, Heizo and Masaru leave the O.R., and the nurse technicians rush in to prep the next body for surgery and take Sayaka's body…somewhere else.

Out in the hallway, Natsuki and Hiyoko are nowhere to be seen.

"So," Masaru asks, "what were you talking about when you said, 'your own surgery'?"

"Have you eaten anything within the last 24 hours?" Heizo inquires.

Masaru blinks. "Um… No. I haven't."

"Then after we're done with the surgeries, you'll be having your own next…"

"…Considering what we're doing, that sounds kinda menacing… And why am I having surgery?"

"To implant the device that will allow you to keep track of the teens' health."

"…Implant?"

"Well, only a few wires will actually be under your skin. The device itself will be grafted to your forearm."

"Wires…? Grafted…? Forearm…?"

"The device will be powered by your internal body chemistry and neural impulses. The grafting will be to keep the device from coming loose and make it harder for someone to rip it off your forearm. Are you right-handed or left-handed?"

"…What?"

"Are you right-handed or left-handed?"

"I'm ambidextrous."

Heizo is silent for several moments. "…Which hand do you use more often?"

"It's…about equal."

Heizo goes silent again.

After a few more moments, Masaru says, "Though I'd prefer it if you put it on my left forearm."

"…Okay."

"…By the way, sir…"

"What?"

Masaru leans in closer and asks, "Why does your family have amnesia?"

Heizo simply stands there with his mouth wide open. "Uh…"

Just then, a nurse technician pokes his head out into the hallway. "Doctor, the next body is ready."

"Excellent!"

Heizo then grabs Masaru's arm and drags him into the OR.

_If Psyche-locks were real,_ thinks Masaru,_ this guy'd have way more than five._

0~*~0

The body lying on the operating table isn't the one Masaru thought he'd be seeing.

"Leon?"

"Yep."

"What about, um…Mukuro Ikusaba?"

"Because of the severe burns covering her upper body, I have her body soaking in a bath of serum."

"Why can't we do that for the other bodies?"

"The serum bath is only effective for burns and open wounds. Some of these kids…well, I don't think I have to tell you."

Masaru notices that there's a lot of bone glue on the tray this time, along with a container filled with blue paste. There's also a yellow bucket next to the tray.

"What's the bucket for?" asks Masaru.

"In case you need to throw up," replies Heizo.

When Masaru looks at the body, he immediately realizes why Heizo thought he might throw up. Seeing Leon's face in the dim light of the Biology Lab had been bad enough; but now, under the bright light of the giant lamps and with absolutely nothing covering his body, Masaru is starting to understand just how severe Leon's injuries really are. That feeling only deepens when he sees that there's a thick file on the table under the x-ray.

"Oh man…" he groans.

"If at any point you feel like you're going to faint," Heizo says, "let me know." Pause. "Oh, and lie down on the floor so you won't hit anything."

Masaru gulps. "Got it…"

0~*~0

There aren't any broken bones in Leon's feet. The bones in his legs are cracked, but aren't fractured all the way through. Still, Heizo applies some of the blue paste ("the serum in gel form," he says) to the cracks.

They then move on to Leon's arms and hands, which are considerably more damaged. They do the same thing they did with Sayaka's wrist; paint the bone glue over the fractures to hold them together. It must take them half an hour to do both arms. But they still get it done.

_You know,_ Masaru thinks, _this isn't so bad._

And then they get to Leon's torso.

Leon's ribcage is broken in a few places along his sides and back, but the front is surprisingly intact (Masaru figures that Leon's arms took the brunt of the trauma). Leon's heart and lungs are completely intact, minor decomposition aside.

As for his abdominal cavity…the state of Leon's internal organs makes Masaru ask Heizo if he can lie down (he allows him to).

And the less said about the state of Leon's skull, the better (the least disturbing problem is his _nine missing teeth_; Heizo tells him that someone else will make and put in implants to replace the teeth).

When they're _finally_ done, Masaru is so shaken by the experience, he doesn't say a word to Heizo as they wait in the hallway for the next body.

0~*~0

For Chihiro Fujisaki's body (which is covered to the neck this time), Heizo starts by shaving off the hair around Chihiro's head wound. They have to fish two or three small skull fragments out of Chihiro's brain, but it's not as bad as Leon's was. Still, Heizo puts a considerable amount of serum gel on Chihiro's brain. He puts a thin layer of bone glue over the cracked parts of Chihiro's skull and puts a small skin graft (when did he have time for that?) over the exposed skull.

0~*~0

They do almost the exact same thing for Kiyotaka Ishimaru, except they don't have to fish skull fragments out of his brain.

Masaru can't resist the opportunity to see if Taka's bushy eyebrows and red eyes are actually real.

0~*~0

For Hifumi Yamada's body, Heizo decides to do something a little…different.

"You're going to what…?" Masaru says slowly.

"I'm going to remove his excess body fat."

"…Why!?" Masaru demands.

"Handling his body and reviving him will be much easier without the excess weight," Heizo explains. "Of course, it may take some time for his body to get used the sudden weight loss… But I'll be ready if anything major happens."

…_This guy unnerves me._ "All right, but…won't he just, um…regain the weight back?"

"…Considering the state of the world and our current food supplies, getting his weight back to its current point after we're done would be…extremely difficult."

"How much does he weigh now?"

"342 pounds."

Masaru is silent for several moments. "Th-th-three hundred…"

"Can we get started with the operation already?"

The first thing they do is deal with Hifumi's head wound. Somehow, Taka's head wound seems worse in comparison.

After that, they start removing Hifumi's excess body fat. They remove fat from his torso, neck, and limbs. The layer of fat in Hifumi's torso in particular is thick enough for Masaru to scoop it out with his bare gloved hands. They dump the fat into large biohazard (?) buckets next to the operating table.

When they've finally removed most, if not all, of the excess fat, Masaru looks at the buckets and queasily says, "Dear god…how much fat did we take out…?"

"We won't know the exact number until we weigh him again," Heizo replies, "but if I had to guess…I'd say at least 200 pounds."

"T-two hundred…" Masaru stammers, his face turning pale.

"We're not done yet, though."

"…We're not?"

"We still need to deal with the excess skin."

"Excess…skin…"

The rest of the operation is a blur to Masaru. He doesn't even glance at Hifumi as he leaves.

When they get into the hallway, Masaru stumbles into the nearest men's bathroom and throws up bile in one of the toilets. Heizo waits outside the stall, speaking in a calm, reassuring tone of voice.

They don't start surgery on the next body until Masaru stops feeling nauseous.

0~*~0

Masaru isn't sure if it's because he's used to seeing dead bodies up close or if it's the lack of a bad smell, but he doesn't feel lightheaded when he sees Celeste's body. He still cringes, but that's unsurprising. Celeste's body is mangled and covered in open wounds. She looks even worse than Leon.

"Typical traffic accident victim," Heizo observes.

"Huh?"

"She looks exactly like a typical traffic accident victim."

"Dead or alive?"

"…I have operated on people with worse-looking injuries than her that survived their ordeal."

Masaru tries to avoid imagining what that would look like.

Celeste's internal injuries are both better and worse than Leon's. Her ribs are smashed and her lungs are punctured (though her heart is surprisingly intact). Most of the organs in her abdominal cavity, however, are damaged but clearly recognizable. Several bones in her skull are broken but, again, it's not as bad as Leon's.

0~*~0

This time, when they're in the hallway, Masaru feels like talking.

"Dr. Sasaki…"

"Yes?"

"There's something I forgot to ask earlier…"

"What?"

"Are you trying to scare me?"

"Scare you? Why would I be trying to scare you?"

"…Let me be more specific. Are you trying to scare me because I scare you?"

Heizo is silent for what feels like an eternity. Then…

"…You know…to be perfectly honest…I'm not sure what to think of you."

Masaru isn't sure whether to lie or tell the truth, so he just nods and stays quiet.

0~*~0

Sakura Ogami is next. Watching the broadcast, Masaru wasn't as intimidated by her as much as he thought he would be. But now, standing next to her, even though he knows what she was really like, even though she's dead, he feels more intimidated than ever.

All Heizo really does is flush out her digestive system to remove all traces of the poison (the less said about the specifics, the better), though he lines her digestive tract with various kinds of bacteria afterwards ("Bacteria play an important role in the digestive process. …Maybe I should do this for the rest of the kids after your surgery.").

0~*~0

"So your daughter went to Hope's Peak as the Ultimate Artist?"

"Yep."

"What kind of art?"

"Painting, drawing, digital art, even a bit of sculpting and pottery. But mostly painting and drawing."

"Hmm." Masaru raised an eyebrow. "I never thought she'd be the artistic type."

"Yes, well, she's had a lot of time to practice."

"Whadda ya mean?"

"Oh, uh…"

"How'd she get started?"

"…Apparently, one day, when she was 4 years old, she went up to Hiyoko and told her she was bored, and Hiyoko gave her a piece of paper and some crayons and told her to draw something. From then on, whenever Suki got bored, she'd draw something. And it only grew from there."

There's an awkward pause.

After a while, Masaru says, "So… Your daughter…switches from excitable to shy rather quickly…don't you think?"

Heizo puts his hands on his hips and looks off to the side. "Yeah, I don't know why she does that. There are times when I wonder if I should be concerned."

Masaru thinks, _somehow, that statement makes ME concerned…_

"Of course, she has amnesia, so that might be a factor."

"Why does your daughter have amnesia?"

Heizo just keeps staring off to the side, not saying a word.

"At least he didn't give me a technical explanation…" Masaru mumbles.

Heizo briefly glances up at Masaru, but still doesn't say anything.

They're silent until the next body is ready.

0~*~0

"Is that-?"

"Mukuro Ikusaba."

Lying there on the operating table, the only sign that she was ever burned is the unnatural paleness of her new skin, the lack of any hair on her head, and the lack of freckles on her face (which Masaru NEVER would've noticed had Natsuki not pointed it out to him). To say it was eerie was an understatement.

Fortunately, the serum bath also healed her impalement wounds, so all they have to do is drain the excess serum from inside her body.

Masaru feels tempted to look at her eyes, but he decides against it.

0~*~0

Masaru is surprised by the final body—not because of who it is (simple process of elimination meant it had to be Mondo)—but because of the state of the body.

Mondo's body is lying on the operating table, completely intact. Even his hair is all there (at least, he THINKS it is; Mondo's ridiculous pompadour has completely fallen apart and his hair is now slicked back over his head).

"I'm not gonna ask," remarks Masaru.

"Ask what?" Heizo wonders.

"…Nevermind."

All they do is inject the opaque white stuff into Mondo's body, just like they've done at the end of each operation for each of the students.

0~*~0

Masaru groggily opens his eyes.

_Huh? What happened?_

He remembers walking out of the O.R. ahead of Dr. Sasaki, and then…waking up here.

He feels a dull throbbing in his left forearm. Even without looking, he knows what it is.

_So they put it in already… But why can't I remember…?_

A voice beside him softly says, "I didn't know you had tattoos."

Masaru rolls his head in the direction of the voice.

"Oh. Hi Natsuki. Why…?"

He feels a wave of exhaustion come over him. When he opens his eyes again, she's sitting in a different position, looking bored.

Masaru tries again. "Why are you here?"

"Daddy wanted me to show you how to use that device, but I guess we should wait until the anesthesia's worn off, shouldn't we?"

"Anesthe- Oh. Right."

There's a brief silence, and Masaru slips into unconscious again.

When he wakes up this time, Natsuki's fallen asleep too, and she's resting her head on Masaru's abdomen.

Feeling less groggy than he did the first time he woke up, he gently nudges Natsuki's head with his hand.

"Hey. Natsuki. Wake up. My stomach is not a pillow."

Natsuki opens her eyes to look at him. "Oh hi. Are you going to stay awake this time?"

"Maybe. You know what I just realized?"

"What?"

"Your voice…sounds a lot like…hers."

"You mean Junko Enoshima's?" Natsuki laughs dryly. "People have told me stuff like that…ever since she started modeling. I've gotten…really tired of it."

"Oh. So, you want me to not bring it up again?"

"If you can."

"By the way…"

"What?"

"Why do you and your mom have amnesia?"

Natsuki briefly looks away before answering. "…Daddy wouldn't want me to tell you."

"Heh. Figures. Why not?"

"I'm not sure. I think it has something to do with something that happened in the past that I don't remember. But I could be wrong."

There's silence. Masaru turns his head to look at his left forearm. There's a rectangular, black device on his forearm, and in the center of that device are three rows of five small buttons. He'd press the buttons, but Natsuki is lying on his right arm, and he doesn't think he has the energy to trying pressing the buttons with his nose. So he opts for one last question.

"Natsuki, you asked something back at Hope's Peak, what was it?"

"I asked you if you thought we'd be able to pull off Operation: Revival of Hope."

"Do you think so?"

"I KNOW so."

"What makes you so certain?"

There's an oddly pained look in her expression. "…Daddy wouldn't want me to tell you."

**Author's note: …Dear…god… This chapter ended up being MUCH longer than I thought it would be. So at my current rate of uploading chapters at about one per month…I may not retain interest in this story long enough to finish it. Oh well. We'll just have to see.**

**On a side note, I got Dangan Ronpa 1 and 2 for Christmas! Can't wait to play them!**


	4. Awakening

**Little fun fact: when I first started writing this story, both Hiyoko and Natsuki were going to be dead, then just Hiyoko (replaced by her niece), then I let both of them live. Also, when I first started writing chapter 3, Natsuki was going to be the Ultimate Nutritionist…then I changed it for plot\backstory reasons and because being a nutritionist is a little harder to demonstrate.**

Masaru is standing next to Sayaka's bedside, staring down at her with his arms crossed. He looks down at the device on his left forearm. Nine of the fifteen buttons are glowing faintly. He holds out his arm and presses the top leftmost button. A holographic display pops up. The name "Sayaka Maizono" is at the top. At the center, from top to bottom, is a semi-transparent diagram of her body. Next to the diagram are several stats and buttons, but only one catches Masaru's eye: "Status: Deceased".

_Well that ain't surprising,_ Masaru thinks.

He presses the button on the device again, and the display closes. He's been told that he can interact with the display, but so far he hasn't needed to.

It's been ten days since the operations to fix the students' bodies. He's learned about everything that Hiyoko and Natsuki can remember, inadvertently helped them regain a few memories, seen Natsuki's art gallery ("YOU made all this!?"), and, at Dr. Sasaki's request, checked all the students every day for any sign of life. He was…more than a little uncomfortable at the thought of…the level of interaction he would have to perform with the dead bodies to check for signs of life, so he mainly resorted to using the device's holographic display.

Masaru wipes his forehead with his sleeve. He is, as usual, wearing a long-sleeved shirt (though the left sleeve had been cut off at the elbow so that it wouldn't obscure the device), and Heizo's insistence at keeping the rooms each body was kept in at a high temperature ("I don't want to risk the students having hypothermia when they wake up.") did nothing to make checking the bodies any more comfortable. Masaru had initially been afraid that it would make the bodies start to stink, but so far he hasn't smelled a single whiff of a decaying body (and he knows VERY well what those smell like).

On the other side of Sayaka's bed is a complex-looking machine pumping a purplish-red mixture of serum and Sayaka's blood type (mostly blood) into her body via two tubes, one in each arm (Masaru doesn't think that two tubes are enough, but it seems to work, so who's he to complain?). As Heizo had explained, the machine also apparently oxygenated the blood and removed any waste products ("It's basically a heart machine, an iron lung, and a dialysis machine all rolled into one."). There are straps holding down Sayaka's arms, chest, and hips (though the one on the latter is covered by the blanket on Sayaka's body).

Masaru is honestly impressed by how much Heizo has taken into consideration, but he's extremely doubtful that anything's going to happen. Nobody, especially people who have been dead as long as these teens have been, can come back to life.

Granted, Sayaka's body seemed to be in better condition now than it had been during the operation but still—

…_Beep…_

Masaru freezes. "What…" he murmurs to himself "was that?"

…_Beep…_

Masaru looks down at the device on his arm.

…_Beep…_

The top leftmost button flashes white at the same time as the beep. Without thinking, he puts his hand on Sayaka's chest, right over her heart.

…_Beep…_

This time, when he hears the beep, he feels a slight movement beneath his fingers.

_N…No way…_

He presses down harder on her chest. Sure enough, when the next beep comes, he feels the movement under his fingers again. And it's unmistakably a heartbeat.

It's then that he also realizes that Sayaka's chest is moving up and down slightly.

Masaru tries to say something, but nothing comes out. After a few tries, he manages to squeak out, "S-Sayaka?"

Sayaka's eyes suddenly fly open. And she SCREAMS.

Deeply startled, Masaru jumps back, landing on his bottom and backing up until he's against the wall.

Sayaka is screaming as though she's possessed, and convulsing like it too. Masaru finally realizes the purpose of the straps: to keep the students from injuring themselves as they convulse like this.

Then, just as suddenly as it had started, Sayaka's screaming and convulsions stop. She slumps back into the bed, panting heavily. After she catches her breath, she starts looking around, taking in her surroundings.

A million thoughts are running through Masaru's mind and it feels like none of them are being processed. His mind eventually settles on one: _What the flyin' hell just happened?_

That thought quickly vanishes when he realizes that Sayaka is staring right at him. They stare at each other for what feels like hours. Masaru tries to say something, anything, but his vocal cords refuse to function.

Sayaka looks down at herself, her gaze momentarily lingering on the splint on her right wrist, and tugs on her restraints. She looks back at him, but all he does is stare at her vacantly. She tugs at the straps again, grunting.

It takes him a few seconds to realize what she's trying to say.

_She wants me to undo the straps._

No longer capable of rational thought, Masaru slowly stands up, his whole body trembling. Sayaka waits patiently as Masaru stumbles over to her bedside. His hands tremble uncontrollably as he fumbles with the strap holding down her right arm. When he finally manages to undo the strap, he moves to the other side of her bed and begins undoing the strap holding down her left arm. Once he's done that, he shuts off the machine next to him and takes the tubes out of her arms. Strangely, the small wounds left behind don't bleed.

Sayaka, whose hands aren't trembling, quickly undoes the straps holding down her chest and hips. Masaru quickly rushes back to the other side of Sayaka's bed as she flings the blanket off of her legs and swings them over the side of the bed. She sits up awkwardly, her torso oddly stiff.

Sayaka edges off of the bed, looking somewhat hesitant. Her feet hit the floor…and she almost immediately collapses. Masaru quickly catches her and helps her stand back up. He supports her as she takes a few shaky steps. Within moments, she's walking just fine.

As Sayaka starts running her hands over the hospital gown she's wearing, Masaru can't help but stare. His mind is a complete blank, unable to comprehend that someone who was dead not even ten minutes ago—someone he saw die on national television—is now standing right in front of him, very much alive.

Without thinking, he says, "Sayaka?" She looks up at him. "Is…is that really you?"

She nods almost immediately.

"Yeah…" Masaru mumbles absentmindedly.

He suddenly feels a scream building inside him.

Before he can let it out, though, he hears another beeping noise from the device on his forearm. Sayaka stares at it as Masaru holds the device up to his face. The middle button in the top row is blinking. Leon.

Masaru looks up at Sayaka, then back at the device before dashing out of the room at top speed. Sayaka, confused, follows him close behind.

Masaru enters Leon's room just as he starts screaming. Masaru freezes and a chill runs up his spine. Leon's scream sounds just like it did during his execution.

Leon's screaming and convulsions last about as long as Sayaka's did. But this time, when they're over, Leon doesn't try to look around. Instead, his eyes shut tightly and he grits his teeth, grunting in pain. Masaru immediately rushes forward and undoes all of Leon's restraints, but Leon doesn't even try to move. Or open his eyes.

Masaru is debating whether or not to turn off the machine and remove the tubes from Leon's arms when the device on his forearm starts beeping again.

Deciding to leave the tubes in for now, Masaru once again dashes out of the room at top speed and Sayaka, waiting outside the door, once again follows him.

This time, the one to awaken is Kiyotaka, and Sayaka follows Masaru into the room. Her eyes go wide when she sees Taka.

Masaru undoes Taka's straps, turns off the machine, and takes the tubes out of his arms after Taka's screaming and convulsions stop. Taka easily sits up on the bed (though he does hold a hand to the wound on his head, which is covered in bandages).

Next is Hifumi, whose head wound is also wrapped in bandages, and Mukuro (Masaru can't think of how to describe the expression on her face as he undoes her straps).

After that is Celeste, who, like Leon, makes no attempt to get out of bed, though she keeps her eyes open the whole time.

Next up is Mondo, whose screams aren't as loud and convulsions aren't as violent as everyone else's was, nor do they last as long. Masaru wonders if it's a sign that something's wrong with Mondo.

Next after Mondo is Sakura. Masaru waits until she's stopped screaming before he hesitantly opens the door. When he enters the room, the straps holding down Sakura's arms and chest are broken, and she's in the process of undoing the one holding down her hips.

Masaru looks at the device again. Eight of the fifteen buttons are lit. Sayaka, who's followed Masaru the whole time, points at the only button in the top row that's still not on.

"Chihiro," breathes Masaru.

Sayaka bites her lower lip, her eyes filled with concern.

And it's at that moment that Masaru realizes that each of the buttons that are lit are different colors.

Sayaka's is a mix of green and yellow; Mukuro, Mondo, Taka, Hifumi, and Sakura's are blue; Celeste's is an orange-ish yellow; and Leon's is a solid orange.

Just as he starts to consider asking Dr. Sasaki what the different colors mean, he hears a beeping sound, and Chihiro's button starts flashing.

Masaru looks up at Sayaka then back at the device before rushing out of Sakura's room and into Chihiro's room, Sayaka still following him.

0~*~0

The instant Masaru opens the door, he realizes that something is wrong. Chihiro, unlike everyone else, isn't screaming. Or even moving. His eyes are still closed.

He rushes up to Chihiro, puts his hand on his shoulder, and gives it a quick but gentle shake.

"Chihiro? Chihiro, can you hear me?"

Chihiro has no reaction at all.

Masaru holds the back of his hand up to Chihiro's nose and mouth. He can feel the rush of air from Chihiro's soft breaths.

_Why is this happening? This didn't happen with anyone else. Chihiro's alive…so why isn't he awake?_

Masaru holds up the device and presses Chihiro's button, which is now a mix of yellow and orange. The holographic display that comes up is the same color as the button. Sayaka is initially startled by the display, but she soon leans closer to get a look.

Masaru quickly finds what he's looking for: "Status: Comatose".

"Comatose…?" he mutters softly.

_What's goin' on? Did we not fix Chihiro's brain enough? Is that why Chihiro's in a coma…? …Dr. Sasaki should know._

Masaru rushes out of the room, taking care not to run into Sayaka. He dashes down the hallway of the recovery wing, failing to notice that Sayaka is still following him.

It isn't until he's halfway down the hallway when he realizes that he has no idea where Dr. Sasaki is.

0~*~0

Masaru runs around, checking from room to room, for a good ten minutes or so. Finally, he decides to just ask.

The first person he asks is a woman standing outside a door.

Masaru skids to a halt and quickly asks, "Have you seen Dr. Sasaki?"

She gives him a weird look. "…No… Not recently…"

Masaru resumes running.

The second person he asks is a man tuning a violin.

"Have you seen Dr. Sasaki?"

"Nope."

The third person he asks is someone (Masaru can't tell if it's a man or a woman) pushing a trolley cart.

"…Have you seen Dr. Sasaki?"

"Um… I believe…he's in the 5th floor conference room."

"You sure?"

"…Pretty sure."

"Thanks."

He takes a few steps before nearly falling over.

"Are you okay?"

"…I just realized that my ankle really hurts."

A few moments pass before both of them look at the empty trolley cart.

0~*~0

"So…" Natsuki says, sitting on the swivel stool, "when do you think they'll wake up?"

Heizo shrugs. "I don't know, sweetie."

Just then, the doors to the conference swing open, and in comes Masaru riding the trolley cart, yelling, "_**DR. SASAKIIIIIIIIIIIII!**_"

Natsuki screams and falls off the stool.

Masaru doesn't stop yelling until the cart stops right in front of Heizo, whose eyes have become almost comically wide.

"…What on earth…was with that dramatic entrance…?"

Masaru just stares for a few moments, still holding his arms out to the side.

"…My ankle was hurting."

The person pushing the cart says, "I was putting the cart back and…I got nothing else to do, so…what the heck."

Heizo stares at them for several moments before finally saying, "…Did you come to tell me that the students have woken up?"

Masaru's eyes widen and his arms drop slightly. "Um…not quite, but… How did you know about that?"

"Because Sayaka's running towards us."

Before either Masaru or the person pushing the cart can react, Sayaka stops next to Masaru and slumps, panting hard. Beads of sweat drip down her face.

"You followed me!?" exclaims Masaru as the person pushing the cart stares at her in disbelief.

Sayaka nods, still panting.

"…A-Anyway," says Masaru, turning back towards Heizo, "about that… Well… All of them are alive…but Chihiro hasn't woken up."

Heizo's expression suddenly becomes very serious. "What!? …What did the sensors say!?"

"Uh… They said he was comatose."

"Comatose…!?"

Heizo suddenly dashes out of the room. The person pushing the trolley cart with Masaru on it just as suddenly rushes after him, taking the cart with him.

When they're all out of the room, Sayaka slumps again and groans. Just then, she notices Natsuki, still on the floor.

"S-Sayaka," she squeaks.

Sayaka, curious, tilts her head slightly and walks up to Natsuki, who's staring up at her with wide, blue eyes.

After staring at her for a few moments, Sayaka holds out her left hand to Natsuki. Natsuki hesitantly takes it, and Sayaka hoists her to her feet.

Natsuki is still staring at her with a stunned expression on her face. Sayaka starts to look concerned.

"Sayaka? Is that you?" Natsuki breathes. "Is that really…truly you?"

Sayaka nods somewhat slowly.

Natsuki puts her hands on Sayaka's shoulders. After a few seconds, she says, "I would hug you, but that would be really weird."

Sayaka stays completely silent.

"…Are you getting hungry?" Natsuki suddenly asks.

After thinking for a few seconds, Sayaka nods.

"Come on."

Natsuki takes Sayaka by the hand and leads her out of the conference room.


	5. Alive Again

**Originally, this was going to be part of chapter 4, but chapter 4 was long enough, so I just decided to stop where I did and split it into two chapters.**

By the time they get back to the recovery wing, all of the students capable of walking are now wandering around the hallway. All of them are startled to see Heizo rush down the hallway and into Chihiro's room (all the rooms have nameplates on them). They're even more startled to see Masaru following him while riding a trolley cart being pushed by someone else they've never seen before.

Masaru and the other person stop in front of Chihiro's room just as Heizo comes back out.

"Masaru, let me see Chihiro's display."

Masaru presses Chihiro's button on the device and opens up the menus Heizo asks him to open up. He wonders why Heizo doesn't do it himself, but he realizes the answer before he can say anything.

After Heizo's looked through the appropriate menus, he stands up, looking deep in thought.

A few moments later, he says, "Kiyoshi, take Masaru and the students to the cafeteria."

Masaru says, "Kiyoshi?"

The person pushing the cart says, "I'm Kiyoshi."

_A unisex name. Great._ "But, what about Leon and Celestia? They can't walk."

"I'll have food brought to them. But I don't want anyone getting in the way right now. So get going."

0~*~0

Fortunately, the cafeteria is on the same floor as the part of the recovery wing they're in, so they don't have to go too far.

But when they get there…

"Natsuki? Sayaka?" Both girls are already there and eating. They turn to look at Masaru.

"How'd you get here before us?" he asks.

Sayaka shrugs. Natsuki says, "I don't know. We just did. Oh, but we did wash our hands first."

"…Oh yeah." Masaru, still riding on the trolley cart, turns toward the rest of the students. "Uh, why don't you guys go wash your hands in that bathroom over there? Especially considering the state you guys were in…not too long ago…"

The surreality of the situation smacks him in the face again, and once again he feels a scream building. It doesn't come out, though.

After everyone's washed their hands (Hifumi was the first to come out, but Taka quickly dragged him back in), everyone grabs some food (Masaru can't help but notice that all the food available right now is either soft or semi-solid) and sit at the tables.

Mukuro (Masaru still can't get over her lack of hair or eerily pale skin) sits next to Natsuki, Taka and Mondo sit together at another table, Hifumi sits by himself, and Sakura sits where she can see everyone else.

Not long afterwards, Sayaka, apparently fed up with awkwardly trying to use chopsticks with her left hand, starts eating her rice with her fingers. Upon noticing this, Taka storms over, grabs Sayaka's left hand, grabs her spoon, and shoves her spoon into her left hand, either oblivious to or ignoring the stares he's getting from just about everyone in the room. He doesn't go back to his seat until Sayaka starts eating her rice with the spoon.

Throughout the whole meal, Natsuki, Masaru, and Kiyoshi (mostly Natsuki) all attempt to make small talk with the formerly dead students. Their efforts are met with nods, shakes, shrugs, or vacant stares. A few of them open their mouths, but no sound comes out. It makes the atmosphere feel increasingly creepy.

Just as everyone finishes eating, Heizo comes into the room and goes over to Masaru.

"I've done all I can for Chihiro. All we can do now is wait for him to wake up."

"So why's he in a coma while everyone else is awake?"

"…I don't know."

"How can you not know? You're a doctor, aren't you?"

"Masaru, we're bringing the dead back to life. There's no telling what could happen. I do have a hunch, though…but I can't prove it right now. That reminds me, what did everyone do when they came back to life?"

"…Um… Everyone except Chihiro screamed loudly and convulsed violently. Mondo wasn't half as bad, though."

A slightly puzzled look crosses Heizo's face. After a few moments, he turns to Natsuki.

Before he can say anything, Natsuki says, "You wanna check their brain activity, right!?"

"…Yes."

"Okay! Is everyone done eating!?" All of the formerly dead students nod. "Then follow me! And don't worry about the dishes!"

She then leads everyone out of the room. Taka lingers for a bit, looking back at the leftover dishes on the tables, before quickly joining them.

Heizo stares after them for a few seconds before saying, "Have any of them talked?"

Masaru says, "Not a word."

Kiyoshi says, "It's kinda creepy."

Heizo has a thoughtful look on his face. "Hmm…"

"Um…" Masaru adds, "what about Leon and Celeste?"

"Celeste was eating oatmeal when I left her, and Leon…"

"…Yes?"

"…Leon looked like he was on the verge of passing out."

"He…did seem to be in a lot of pain after he woke up."

"…I need to go. Wait for us in the recovery wing."

At that, Heizo leaves.

Kiyoshi and Masaru stand\sit in silence for about a minute, before Kiyoshi suddenly says, "How's your ankle?"

"Still kinda hurts."

"Even though you're not putting any weight on it?"

"Just moving it hurts."

"…I think you should have Heizo check it out later."

"Yeah, maybe." He lies down on the cart. "I'm tired."

"Considering everything that's happened today in such a short time, I'm not surprised."

Masaru closes his eyes…and almost immediately falls asleep.

0~*~0

When Masaru wakes up, the first thing he sees is Taka leaning directly above him, his face only a foot away from Masaru's.

"Oh hi Taka," he sleepily mumbles, his eyes closing again. Then they suddenly snap open. "Taka!?"

He sits up, Taka quickly moving out of the way. Masaru then realizes that there's a blanket covering him, and there's a pillow where his head was resting.

"Wha-? Who-who gave me this stuff…?"

Taka taps on Masaru's shoulder to get his attention, and then points to himself and Sakura.

"Y-You guys…?"

Taka nods.

Masaru looks away, blushing more heavily than he would like to.

_These kids hardly even know me and already they're concerned about me…? Wait…_

"How long have I been asleep?"

Taka holds up six fingers.

"…Please tell me that means 6 hours."

Taka nods once.

"Good. …I've been out for-!?"

Taka suddenly clamps his hand over Masaru's mouth and points to somewhere else. Masaru looks to where Taka is pointing and sees Sayaka standing in front of Leon's door.

"Is Dr. Sasaki in there?" Masaru asks.

Taka thinks for a few moments then shakes his head. Masaru holds up the device on his forearm and presses Leon's button.

Status: Semi-conscious.

_Semi-conscious? What does that even mean?_

"Uh… Sayaka, I think it's okay for you to go in. It says he's…semi-conscious-"

The instant he says that, Sayaka almost rips the door off its hinges as she dashes inside.

Slightly surprised by her reaction, Masaru, pointing to Leon's door, says, "Uh, would somebody mind…?"

Sakura wheels Masaru's trolley cart into Leon's room. The machine running the serum\blood mixture through Leon's body is now gone. Instead, there's an IV rack, with a bag feeding into Leon's left hand. A few tubes and wires connect Leon to a machine displaying his heart rate and blood pressure, along with a few other things. As for Leon himself, his eyes are half-closed and his mouth is slightly ajar. Masaru isn't close enough to tell for sure, but Leon doesn't seem to notice anyone in the room.

Sayaka is sitting in a chair to Leon's right, her hands in her lap. Masaru can't see her face, but he feels he doesn't need to.

_I wonder what she's thinking, seeing the man she tried to kill and yet ended up killing her…_

Sayaka slowly lifts her trembling left arm and reaches towards Leon. She gently grasps Leon's hand in hers.

Leon's head turns slightly in her direction…and his face lights up with recognition, his eyes widening and the corners of his mouth turning up slightly. Even his vitals perk up slightly.

Masaru is surprised at this reaction, but he's even more surprised by what happens next: Sayaka leans forward, letting go of Leon's hand, and rests her head on Leon's chest, gripping Leon's shoulders. It takes Masaru a few moments to hear her soft sobs.

Leon's eyes widen even more, and his slight smile fades. He moves his right arm out from under Sayaka and shakily puts his hand on the back of Sayaka's head. He also rubs Sayaka's back with his left hand, despite the obvious pain it takes to move. Her sobs become somewhat louder in response.

Masaru hears footsteps next to him and thus is only mildly startled when Heizo quietly states, "If they had feelings for each other prior to losing their memories, I'd say this is a good sign."

"And if they didn't?" Masaru asks.

"…Then I have no idea what to make of it."

0~*~0

Mukuro Ikusaba. That's what they said her name was. And she knew they were right. They also said that she used to be dead. And she knew they were right, somehow. There was no shock, no sudden realization, she just KNEW. She knew from the moment she woke up strapped to a hospital bed, even if she hadn't been able to put the feeling into words at the time.

And now, watching Leon and Sayaka, she gets another strange feeling: a buzzing in her brain, as though…as though she had seen something similar to this several times before. Oddly enough, she had felt the exact same buzzing when looking at everybody else, with the exception of…Masaru, was it?

Masaru, who's sitting on a trolley cart with a pillow and blanket on it, suddenly says, "Oh, Dr. Sasaki, I meant to ask you, what do these different colors mean?" He holds up the strange device on his left forearm.

Dr Sasaki, who's squatting next to Masaru, says, "Ah yes, I had that designed as a way to tell at a glance what the students' physical conditions were. Gray means they're dead; blue means they're fine, green means they're experiencing mild pain or discomfort; yellow means there's a health issue, but it's not life-threatening; orange means there's a health issue that is potentially life-threatening; red means their life is in serious danger; pink means they WILL die without intervention; and white means they're going to die and there's nothing anyone can do about it."

Masaru…is completely silent. Mukuro can't see his face from where she's standing, but she imagines that his eyes are wide.

"What's going on?" a voice behind her says.

Mukuro turns to see who it is. It's…Natsuki.

Her eyes widen when she sees Leon and Sayaka. She looks around the room a bit before grabbing Sakura and Mukuro by the wrist (Mukuro can't help but flinch when Natsuki moves for her) and leading them out of the room.

The others are still out in the hall, and after Natsuki lets go of Sakura and Mukuro, she wrings her hands together and says, "Okay, um… It's getting late, so if everyone would please return to their rooms, uh… Goodnight."

0~*~0

The room is the same as when she left it, though the bizarre machine by her bedside is now gone. And, she realizes belatedly, there's a piece of paper on the table. She walks over to the table, picks up the piece of paper, flips it over…and freezes.

It's her. The buzzing in her brain lasts only for a few seconds before she realizes. She has freckles and short black hair in the photo, but it's definitely her. She absentmindedly puts her hand to her bald head. She starts to get dizzy and she quickly puts the photo back on the table face down.

The dizziness stops, but the fogginess in her head stays. She feels like…like she's trudging waist-deep through a thick swamp in the middle of the night…

_Wait,_ she thinks,_ what kind of analogy is…_

Something clicks inside her head and suddenly she realizes. She HAS trudged waist-deep through a thick swamp in the middle of the night. She remembers it clearly. But she doesn't remember where she was, why she was there, or how she got there. In fact…

She can hardly remember anything.

Mukuro stumbles into the connecting bathroom and looks in the mirror over the sink. It's the first time she's really been able to get a good look at herself, and she realizes that her skin is much paler than in the photo. She's also missing her eyebrows and eyelashes.

And then, acting on a sudden hunch, she takes off her hospital gown.

She involuntarily gasps in shock. She wasn't wearing anything under the gown and so there's nothing hiding the _numerous_ scars all over her body.

The buzzing in her brain returns, and it quickly extends to the scars. The buzzing grows stronger and more painful until it feels like she's being stabbed where the scars are.

Mukuro tears herself away from the mirror and stumbles into the shower, dropping to her knees. She fumbles with the shower knob, and cold water gushes out of the shower head, washing over her naked, trembling body.

The cold water does her good. It numbs her skin and dulls the pain. Once it's dulled enough, her mind wanders to other things.

_These scars… Whatever caused them is what killed me, I'm sure of it. But I don't remember… Maybe I'm better off not knowing. And this buzzing sensation… Does it mean that I'm looking at something that reminds me of my past life? …How did I get here? How did I die? WHY did I die? And why do I feel like I've seen Natsuki and Dr. Sasaki before?_

**Author's note: In case the above scene didn't make it clear, I ship Leosaya. Pretty hard. To be honest, I was uncomfortable with Leosaya at first because it was a murderer x victim ship. And then I read Haunted (which was actually where I was introduced to the ship). And now I ship it.**

**Also, I've never been inside a hospital recovery room before (which is probably a good thing), so I don't know if recovery rooms have showers attached to them. For the sake of the story, let's just assume that this hospital has recovery rooms with showers attached for patients who require an extended stay at the hospital.**

**One last thing: I've gained an interest in Big Hero 6 after seeing the movie for the third time. I've even started writing a fic for it. However, given my track record for my stories and interests, I might not retain interest in Danganronpa long enough to get much farther in this story, but we'll just have to see. (Though I certainly won't retain interest in this story if it doesn't get more reviews!)**

…**And now I'm not sure how to start the next chapter.**


End file.
